Ciro Spontoni

Ciro Spontoni
Born	Bologna, Papal States
Died	Bologna, Papal States
Parent(s)	Bartolomeo Spontoni

Ciro Spontoni (1552 – 1612) was an Italian advisor to rulers, diplomat, and historian.

Biography

Born in Bologna, Spontoni served as secretary to several high-placed dignitaries in Northern Italy, including the archbishop of Ravenna; the bishop of Policastro; the Duke of Nemours, Giacomo di Savoia (Jacques, Duke of Nemours); Rodolfo Gonzaga, marchese di Castiglione, and the Duke of Mantua. He traveled with the latter to Hungary and Transylvania. He also served as secretary to the Bolognese Senate. He also published a book on Metoposcopia (Metoposcopy), a mixture of astrology and phrenologic interpretation of forehead wrinkles.

Works

Among his works are:

• Dodici libri del governo dello Stato (Verona, ad istanza di Giò. Battista Pigozzo e Andrea de Rossi, 1599).
• Ragguaglio del fatto d'arme seguito nell'Africa tra Don Sebastiano, re di Portogallo (King Sebastian of Portugal) e Matei Auda Mlucco (Muley-Abdel Melck or Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi) (1601, Bologna).
• Azioni dei re dell'Ungheria (1602, Bologna).
• Avvertimenti della storia di Guicciardini (1608, Bergamo).